TERRI'S TRAVELS: Cotopaxi Questival {Phoenix Edition}

{7pm Friday to 7pm Saturday}

Last month, I managed to convince Scott to drive to Phoenix for a 24 hour "adventure race" called the Cotopaxi Questival. Not really like a physical challenge so much as a fun adventure around the Phoenix area.

I couldn't find much info on it online. Cotopaxi is a newer outdoor adventure gear company, and they've only held a couple "Questivals." But none the less, it sounded fun, and I wanted an excuse to get down to some warmer weather.

In my head I always leave plenty of time to get places. We should have been in Phoenix early afternoon. But after a stop to work in Cameron and then the stop to work out at Black Canyon, we were pushing it. (See yesterday's post.)

And then we hit Phoenix traffic:

The festival check-in party was from 5 to 7. We got there just after 7. Which meant we got the left-over backpacks that were pink and navy blue! Not my first choice, but oh well, we still made it in time to actualy check-in, and the Cotopaxi backpacks are all pretty cool.

So the whole point of this Questival, in my opinion, is to have some fun, explore an area, and get free advertising and marketing for Cotopaxi. Everything we did had to be posted to some form of social media, and our Cotopaxi flag had to be in the shot. Genius on their part, right!?

Anyways, as soon as we got there, we started getting to work on the challenges:

Take a selfie with a llama (1 point):

Take a picture with a Cotopaxi employee (1 point):

Play cornhole against another team at the festival (2 points):

Play "beer" water pong at the festival (2 points):

We got done what we could at the fest with our late arrival. We played the games against ourselves because as soon as the "check in challenge" was completed everyone took off running!

We were hungry, so instead of running to another challenge, we ran to a Mexican restaurant.

Neither one of us really had any idea what the challenges were. Not much planning went in to this. So we took the time over diner to read through the SEVEN pages of challenges we could do.

They were broken up in to several categories: Adventure & Fitness, Community & Cultural, Festival, Food, Quirky, Service & Environment, Social Media, Survival & Camping, Teamwork, Travel & Hiking, and Checkpoints.

Feeling optimistic, I asked the table of guys sitting next to me to arm wrestle -- one of the "quirky" challenges. We couldn't break eye contact and I had to have a piece of fruit in my mouth. One of the guys agreed and a lemon was the only fruit around. Awesome.

The video is pretty entertaining. (It's on my YouTube page).

We did what we could while sitting at the restaurant...

Follow Cotopaxi and Questival on various social media platforms:

...and mapped out a few places nearby to go to.

Climb to the top of Genesis (Rope) Tower in Riverview Park (2):

^^ He was so not a fan of being 40 feet up on ropes. Just ask him about it. (hahaha!)

Swap shoelaces with a member of another team (1:)

(We also double-dutched with this team for 2 points.)

Visit Frank Lloyd Wright Spires (2):

Visit the nation's largest sundial (2):

Apply a Cotopaxi tattoo (1):

It was probably 11 by this point, and we were either going to call it a night (my vote!) or drive to Sedona to rack up some points (Scott's vote).

There were 15 points available if we made the hour and a half drive up north.

I said I was going to bed. Scott brewed up a pot of coffee and set off. While I was asleep he hiked to Cathedral Rock and Chapel of the Holy Cross (5 points each):

He came to bed around 2:45am.

Camp in a car (2):

I got up at 5 and took a picture by the only green arched McDonalds in the world (5) ...

...and then drove up north towards Flagstaff to find snow.

I woke Scott up at this point, worried about time. We had to be back in Phoenix to check in by 9am and it was 6:30am. Luckily, right then we found enough snow to kind of do our version of snowboarding on it -- on a deflated paddle board.

This video is pretty funny, too. (Also on YouTube.)

We hit the road back to Phoenix immedately, and only made one quik pit-stop for a yoga pose at a scenic location right off the interstate:

We made a few videos on the drive -- survival tips and best joke...

Scott tied knots (1 point each):

We were cutting it really close on time as we pulled in to Tempe for the check-in. We had to be at the A Mountain by 9am. Scott dropped me off on the side of the road at 8:52 and I took off running up with a few other late-goers.

When I got there, I had to make a video and submit it before 9am. I had a whole 2 minutes to spare.

Scott eventually made it up, too, (not before 9am) and we hiked up to the A and sang the Arizona State fight song. It. Was. Ugly. But whatever - we submitted it and got the points.

We took every opportunity we could to get points.

Boulder one problem outdoors:

Hug a parkinsonian Florda tree:

We took a quick break in the van for smoothies -- and got zero points for that!

Ride the light rail:

Pose like a saguaro and ride the Bil Keane "Giddy Up" statue:

I yodeled in the park after this, and then sang karaoke to Any Man of Mine at Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale.

FaceTime with a family member and tell them you love them (5 points):

Eat at a road side diner:

Visit Arizona Falls:

We made it to check in spot number 2 after that, where I did a hand-stand and cart wheels, and Scott gave a flower to a random person. Seriously. The challenges were getting ridiculous and we were scrapping for points!

Give a team member a mohawk:

Hike Camelback Mountain (and let me tell you, that was a hike):

Get in an old phone booth:

Feed each other cupcakes at Gammade auditorium:

Watch a sunset:

And finally - the last check-in at Tempe Beach Park:

We were pretty shot by this point. In fact, the whole afternoon, we were not all gung-ho. I mean it was pretty obvious we weren't going to win. I don't know how some of those teams did it! Maybe if we had planned a little more or done some research, and if we were from the area, we would have had a better chance.

We still had an hour to go, so we sat down and looked at the rest of the challenges we could do...but decided to just call it a day and take our 50th place finish.

Overall, it was fun and I enjoyed it. (Not sure I can say the same for Scott?) I wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad we did it once. We got to see a lot of the Phoenix area and do some crazy things we wouldn't normally do.

Oh, and on top of being tired and worn out, we were pretty dirty and in need of a good shower.

I didn't think that would be that hard of a thing to find, but it was. Especially on a Sunday night. Most places were closed, including the two RV parks we tried. We were headed to a hostel downtown that was going to let us shower outside in a cold shower for $10 -- with a guy from Couchsurfing send a message back saying we could come to his place to clean up. Thank goodness. A cold outdoor shower was about the last thing I wanted to do.

So we went over to Jonathan's house, cleaned up, and hung out with him and his roommate for awhile. Super nice guys. I say it all the time, but Couchsurfing is seriously the best website. I have met so many genuinely wonderful people on there!

It was past dinner time, and I was honestly about too tired to even eat. We grabbed some grocery store sushi, ate it in the van, and called it a night in a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot.